


Pour Some Sugar On Me (In the Name of Love)

by misura



Category: Empire Records (1995)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-14
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-09-07 22:39:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8818924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: A.J. comes back. Lucas has got this in the proverbial bag, so to speak.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bottomfeeder](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bottomfeeder/gifts).



> you had me at 'Joe-baiting'. ^-^
> 
> happy yuletide!

"So you flunked out of art school, so what? It's not as if people at art school would know anything about art. True art cannot be taught; it's something that burns deep inside your soul."

Joe looked up from where he was going over the receipts. Ears like an eagle-eyed record store owner, had Joe.

"You know that he's just coming here on break, right? He didn't 'flunk out'. Fact, I bet you he's doing great. You see, _some_ people, they apply themselves, they succeed."

Pearls of wisdom from an old, bitter man who had narrowly escaped a fate worse than death. (The part where Joe had nearly inflicted the same fate on Lucas had been forgiven and forgotten by now, if only because a man had no need to be startled awake at night, haunted by the image of an orange apron.)

"I'm a mere mortal, Joe. I pride myself on knowing my limits. Anyway, it never hurts to be prepared, does it? Would you like to hear the uplifting speech I have prepared for when he and Corey break up? It's very good, if I do say so myself."

Joe grumbled a bit. "About two months too late for that one."

"Well, really. Nobody ever tells me anything."

 

Manly platonic hugs were exchanged, although Joe seemed to hold back a little. Possibly, A.J.'s new physique intimidated him - the term 'young god' might apply, although possibly not in any field that required explicit, out-loud mentionings.

"Heard about you and Corey," Lucas offered, by way of tackling the elephant in the room.

A.J. groaned. "Can we not talk about that?"

"I don't know, can we?"

"Don't mind Lucas. He's just got his panties in a twist because it's a day that ends in a Y," Joe said.

"I am deeply wounded by that remark. Besides, you know I only wear panties on the weekend, and today's a Thursday."

"Anyway," Joe went on, recklessly ignoring the threat of an enormous thick-skinned mammal rampaging through the store and trampling all sorts of merchandise in its passage, "how's art school?"

A.J. shrugged a bit. "It's okay."

"That bad, huh?" Lucas asked. He tried to sound sympathetic, but a certain lack of experience held him back. At some point, the abstract notion of 'art school' had come to involve the slightly less abstract notion of 'A.J., being deliriously happy and fulfilled'. It was hard to disentangle the two at such sudden notice. "Well, you can always quit."

"He's got a speech all ready to go," Joe said. "Don't quit, by the way."

"Joe. Really."

Joe's expression suggested he felt no remorse for his heedless indiscretion whatsoever. "Well, I've got work to do. You two kids stay out of trouble."

Lucas offered A.J. a smile by way of signalling this was clearly intended to be a joke.

"By which I mean you, Lucas."

Either the man had eyes in his back, or - well, no, the alternative was too unpleasant to contemplate.

"We're in a record store, Joe. How much trouble do you think we can get in? You'll be right there. Unless you were going to sneak out again to see Jane." Lucas turned to A.J., lowering his voice a bit. "He does that, you know. I suspect a going-on of canoodling, and possible frolicking."

"It's an order, Lucas. Not a suggestion or, God forbid, a challenge."

"Actually, Joe, I don't think God disapproves of challenges, per se. Mind, I'm not an expert."

 

"I thought maybe you'd have snapped out of it by now," A.J. said.

Joe had closed the door to his - well, one might call it an 'office', in the sense that it was a room used for office-like activities. "Out of being an incredibly charming and devastatingly handsome person of tender years? I'm afraid it's a cross I'm doomed to bear for years to come. Presumably, it's to make up for the mistakes of my youth."

"Out of being crazy."

Coming from a better educated person, it might have been an insult and required a sharp, possibly even physical retort. Coming from A.J., the comment might almost be taken as a compliment.

"Well, you don't _have_ to be crazy to work here, but I've been told it helps a little."

A.J. shook his head. "Know what they've got in Boston?"

"I've never been there. How should I know?" Lucas pondered for a moment. "An art school?"

"A Music Town."

Lucas crossed himself. It never hurt to take precautions, after all. "Truly, it's a devil's playground. Well, a playground for evil - I think there's a few devils in Mark's favorite band, and they seem decent enough fellows. Not quite my kind of music, but we sell their records, so clearly, Joe approves."

"So," A.J. said, all faux-casualness, "you working tonight?"

"Sadly, as of yet, I am not yet the proud if discrete owner of nine-thousand dollars. That means 'yes'," he added, in case the reference had gone over A.J.'s head, or gotten lost among the great non-recording artists of history. "You?"

A.J. shrugged. "I could use a bit of extra money."

"Don't do it, brother. That way, doom and perdition lie - although it will all turn out just fine in the end. A bit of a dubious moral lesson there."

"Whatever. I'm going to talk to Joe."

"Always a wise choice."

 

As it turned out, A.J.'s ambition had only extended to working a shift at the store.

Lucas made a point of including him in the general dancing that usually broke out around ten, reasoning that this, too, was something not found in Boston, much like the joy-filled, A.J.-uplifting art school of Lucas's fond childhood fantasies. Growing up was hard work, clearly, and not at all pleasant.

"Thanks. I needed that," A.J. said after, grinning, face flushed.

One less moral than Lucas might have undressed him with their eyes and used the result as a future fond adulthood memory. Many a pleasant hour might be whiled away with such an image.

"So," Lucas said, eyes modestly turned elsewhere, "got any plans for after midnight?"

"What did you have in mind?"

To jump or not to jump. On the one hand, Boston was reasonably far away. On the other, Lucas would probably work here for the rest of his natural life. In a very real way, he might be considered the prince to Joe's king - the rainbow to Joe's raincloud. The silence to Joe's storm.

The point being: Lucas wasn't going anywhere. He was an inalienable part of the store - A.J.'s home, in a sense. A break-up might result in awkwardness.

"A walk in the park followed by a romantic picnic?"

A.J. laughed. Well, that was one mission accomplished, anyway.

"Beer and burgers at my place?"

"Sure, why not?"

"I feel I should warn you, I can be a very affectionate drunk. No need to worry, though. If I try to kiss you, it only means I am harboring some deeply repressed lustful feelings for you. I assure you, my heart is in no way involved at all. Thus, you can turn me down without fear."

"Well, what's a bit of drunk making out between friends, right?" A.J. said.

"My point exactly."

 

("The answer is 'yes', by the way.")

("Sorry?")

("Yes, I will travel all the way to Boston in order to pose for you when you're doing nude studies.")

("Funny.")

("Possibly, even when you're not, but I'd need to think about that. And ask Joe.")


End file.
